Glory be to Him who took His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque. At the beginning of this surah He praised Himself, then He disclosed the nobility of MuṣṬafā and uncovered his eminence over the creatures. First He testified to His own faultlessness and men- tioned His own purity. He Himself praised Himself and showed the creatures His perfect power. He turned over the Messenger's miʿrāj to His own act, not the Messenger's act, so that the faithful will not fall into uncertainty and there would be an argument against the deniers. Thus the faithful will know that the marvels of power have no limit and that this state is not strange given the perfect power of the Powerful. Another meaning is to display the nobility of MuṣṬafā and his eminence over the creatures of the world. Then the world's folk will know that his station is that of those snatched away on the carpet of companionship, not that of the travelers in the way stations of service. He who is snatched away is being pulled by the Real, but the traveler is traveling by himself. When someone is being pulled by the Real, he is in the way station of whispered secrets and joy and is fitting for generous bestowal and exaltation. But when someone is himself traveling, he keeps on wanting to gain access to the thresh- old of service and seeking for a rank to appear for himself. The former is the station of MuḤammad, the Real's beloved, and the latter is the station of Moses, the Real's speaking-companion. Do you not see that He said about Moses, “Moses came to Our appointed time” [7:143], but He said about MuṣṬafā, “who took His servant by night.” Moses was a comer, traveling by himself. MuḤammad was taken, snatched away from himself. He who walks with His feet is not like him who walks toward Him, and he to whose secret core revelation comes is not like him who is called to Him. The one who was traveling was absent through distance, so after separation he found union. The one who was taken was in the elevation of union at the outset, and he received the robe of bounty at the end. Then He says, “His servant by night.
